Botan's Secret Santa
by Totidem Verbis
Summary: Botan and the rest of the YYH gang participate in Secret Santa, and Botan is surprised at the thoughtful and expensive gift she receives.


**Author's Note:** This was written as a Christmas request on tumblr, but I decided to post it here too. (I meant to post it sooner, but I sort of forgot? So enjoy some late Christmas fluff!)

 **Word Count:** 1085

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Botan carefully opened the silver gift bag and resisted the urge to tear out the light blue tissue paper hiding her gift. Everyone else around her was opening their own Secret Santa gifts, and she could hear Yusuke laughing at something. She didn't have time to look up though, because she wanted to see what she got. Once the paper was finally out of the way, she got her first peek at…a box? She lifted the plain black box out of the bag, and she hid the box behind the bag as she cracked it open. Just in case Yusuke had been her Secret Santa and got her something embarrassing.

The lid of the box slid off, and Botan's eyes widened as she got her first look at her present. She held the box with one hand as she reached out with shaking fingers to touch her present, and she bit down on her bottom lip as she realized exactly what it was. A few weeks earlier, a large group of them had gone on a group shopping trip to the mall. She'd stumbled onto a cashmere scarf in one of the stores, and she'd spent a few moments just lightly stroking the soft fabric. It'd been the same vibrant pink as her eyes, but it'd cost too much for her to buy. So she'd sighed and walked away from the scarf to rejoin her friends, and she hadn't thought about it since.

This though…this was definitely that same scarf. The same very expensive cashmere scarf that would perfectly match her eyes. The point of Secret Santa was to keep the gifts simple and not overly expensive, so if someone had gotten this for her then it had to mean something. Didn't it? People didn't just give expensive and personal gifts like this to people they thought of only as friends. So, this gift was a declaration of…something. She was sure of it!

Her eyes peeked over the top of the bag as she looked around the room, but only eight of them had participated in Secret Santa this year. Kuwabara and Yukina were definitely out, because they were clearly enamored with each other. She was sure they'd both give thoughtful gifts to their friends, but nothing like this. Keiko and Yusuke were out as well, because their relationship was stronger than ever. That, and she was sure that Keiko had given Yukina the pretty new hair bows and that Yusuke had given Hiei a ridiculously colored Christmas sweater. That left only three people, unless Koenma had somehow managed to convince one of them to take their place and give her this. She didn't think Koenma thought of her as anything more than a friend though.

The only options left were Kurama, Shizuru, and Hiei. All three of them had been on the shopping trip and could have seen her admiring the scarf, so she couldn't use that trip to help her figure out who had given the gift. So she looked at each of them carefully and tried to see if she could _see_ anything different about them tonight.

Kurama was sitting in a chair and talking easily with Yukina, apparently exchanging one of his mother's recipes for one of Yukina's, and Botan swept her eyes over him. She'd been friends with Kurama for a long time, and she knew that he was attractive. That was just a fact. He'd always been kind to her and always seemed to listen when she rambled on about something, so could that friendship have developed into something deeper? She watched as Kurama smiled softly at Yukina, and she could feel her cheeks heating up at the bright look on Kurama's face. She could imagine Kurama using Secret Santa as a way to stealthily reveal his feelings, and her fingers idly moved in circles across the soft fabric of her new scarf.

Shizuru was laughing along with Yusuke at Kuwabara, who was wearing a pair of reindeer antlers, while Keiko tried to hide her laughter behind her hand. Botan could admit that Shizuru was beautiful when she let her guard down and really relaxed around them, and Botan froze as Shizuru's eyes met hers. The other woman's cheeks were flushed from laughter and her eyes were shining, and Botan unconsciously licked her lips as Shizuru raised her glass in her direction. She smiled at the woman, albeit a little shakily, and then scanned the room for the last party-goer.

Unsurprisingly, Hiei was propped up in the windowsill of Yusuke and Keiko's living room. He had one leg drawn up onto the sill with his other foot braced against the floor, and he was looking out the window instead of at them. Hiei had changed a little over the years. He was still a bit more abrasive than most, but he actually made an effort not to be outright rude. He'd even spoken to her without making threats or speaking in a condescending tone, and they'd had an actual conversation at Genkai's a few weeks ago. The conversation had been about how silly their friends could be, but it'd still been a civil conversation. Botan knew that Hiei was a good person under his rough exterior, and she could admit that he was…quite pleasing to look at. Looking at him now was causing warmth to bloom in her stomach, so she looked back down at her gift instead.

The rest of the night continued on with laughter, until they all slowly started to leave the apartment so Yusuke and Keiko could be alone. Botan was the last one to leave, after promising Keiko to help set up New Year's decoration at Genkai's, and she clutched her gift bag to her chest as she walked down the stairs of the apartment building. She'd kept looking at all the possibilities for the rest of the evening, and she thought she had it figured out. Possibly.

Botan paused outside of the apartment building with the gift bag still held close to her chest, and she watched as her breath formed a small cloud in front of her parted lips. A moment later, she felt heat at her back and shivered as warm air brushed past her ear. She recognized the body behind hers, and she felt herself smiling as her suspicions were confirmed.

"I knew it was you." There was a quiet chuckle behind her, and Botan all but melted at the sound. Yes, this was definitely shaping up to be her best Christmas ever.

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 **Ending Note:** Writing this one was so much fun! I'd love to know who you thought Botan's Secret Santa was, because even I couldn't decide on who it really was.


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